California tech giant expands! But . . .

Good news!  One of California’s tech giants is expanding!  The bad news? Awww, shucks — you’re way ahead of me.

Yup, the expansion is NOT in California. It’s in Austin, Texas.  No surprise, as Oracle already had set up an operation down there in recent years.  See the “Business Relocation Coach” article below and the link to the full Austin article.

One interesting aspect caught my eye. The 2013 move to Texas received some subsidies from both the state and local governments.  Combined that windfall came to $1,067,000 — about $5,335 per employee.  To get that subsidy, the company had to commit to not only hiring 200 employees (they ended up hiring FAR more), but to spending at least $5.4 million on real estate improvements.  While doubtless the windfall was welcome by the corporation, it’s not nearly enough to make a company expand outside of California, where the HQ is.  Other factors (most the result of policies put in place by our CA state and local governments) were much bigger costs that the company faced.

In announcing this latest expansion, Oracle said they were expanding their Austin work force 50%, but were not forthcoming with how many employees currently work in the Austin area.  The local Chamber of Commerce estimates the current Oracle employment number at between 1,000 to 2,000.

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http://thebusinessrelocationcoach.blogspot.com/2015/12/another-california-company-to-expand.html?

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Another California Company to Expand Big Time – in Texas

Breaking news from the Austin American Statesman:

Oracle Corp. will build a huge, new corporate campus on 27 acres in Austin. With the new campus, Oracle plans to grow its Austin workforce by 50 percent over the next few years. The move expands the presence of another rapidly growing California-based technology giant in Central Texas, as companies including Apple Inc., Google and Facebook are aggressively ramping up their workforces there.

In addition to its new 560,000-sq. ft. campus, the deal also includes a adjacent 295-unit luxury apartment complex that will be a housing option for Oracle employees. Scott Armour, senior vice president of Oracle Direct, the firm’s cloud sales organization, said, “Our state-of-the-art campus will be designed to inspire, support and attract top talent – with a special focus on the needs of millennials.”

Jobs at the new campus will be primarily sales-oriented, lead qualification, prospecting and technical support. Founded in 1977, Oracle, one of the world’s leading software companies, is based in Redwood City in San Mateo County.

See the full story at: Shonda Novak and Lori Hawkins, Software giant Oracle to build major Austin campus, add employees, Austin American Statesman, Dec. 22, 2015.